"Food for me was a connecting link to my grandmother, to my childhood, to my past. And what I found out is that for everybody, food is a connector to their roots, to their past in different ways. It gives you security; it gives you a profile of who you are, where you come from." - Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

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Saturday, December 13, 2008

I had a great time when my aunt came to visit us over the summer. My parents were here too. So it felt almost as if I am back home in India. Constant chatter, laughter and good food - we had a great time. and even my blog benefited tremendously. Looking at my desire to learn forgotten recipes, mom and aunt often took the walk down the memory lane. and it was such a pleasure. I discovered so many recipes. Mulka was one such recipe. It came with a family history. My great grandparents were Ganapati devotees. and they used to have a big Naivedya every Sankashti/Sankashta Chaturthi. The whole "devghar" - temple at home would be decorated with fresh flowers and garlands and my great grandmother would make naivedya of Mulka - every single Sankashti. I was amazed to know it because this mulka was almost forgotten now in my family - probably because it is deep fried and naivedya for Ganapati now always is steamed Ukadiche Modak. So sharing & rediscovering this forgotten recipe from my great grandmother's kitchen, which my aunt made for us. I was so happy with the family history that I even ignored that they were deep fried! :-D

Method1. Mash overripe bananas.2. Add remaining ingredients except cardamoms and ghee/oil.3. The batter should have soft dough like consistency. Accordingly add rawa/semolina.4. Heat oil or ghee in a kadai for deep frying.5. Now with a spoon or hand, make small fritters, and add each cardamom seed per fritter.6. Deep fry till brown on both sides. Do not let it burn.

Note -1. Traditionally, these fritters are fried in ghee and served along with ghee/toop/clarified butter.